The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach (hint: bake him brownies)

Brownies are my thing. Some people have a particular cookie that they excel at (my friend Jess makes THE BEST shortbread. Ever. Hands down.) Others have a signature dish. I make brownies. They first made my dad a very proud papa. Then I met my hubby and he declared his love for me over a batch of brownies (ok, not really, but my brownies really are that good, so let’s stick with that.) My father-in-law accepted me into the family, long before Sweetie actually proposed, after tasting one of my brownies (ok – this one is actually true) and gets a pan of brownies for every major occasion (we have Father(-in-law)’s Day brownies, birthday brownies, Christmas brownies, random just-because brownies…) All in all, my brownie recipe rocks (and seems to make all men around me quite happy!)

But the secret? It’s not really my recipe. It’s Hershey’s. (Shhhhh. Don’t tell.) So, thank you Mr (Mrs? Ms?) Hershey for making me such a brownie-baking superstar! :) It’s the first brownie recipe I ever tried (read straight from the side of the cocoa can in my mom’s kitchen when I was all of about 14 years old) and it’s my go-to “need something yummy for someone special” recipe. It hasn’t failed me in 20 years. (Oh. I might delete that. I now feel extraordinarily old.) And I only make one tiny little tweak – I add semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter instead of nuts (since, well, who doesn’t need MORE chocolate in their brownies.)